Ricci and Vernae Graham, parents of Malcolm Rushe Graham ’09, who died of a heroin overdose on Aug. 14, 2016, continue to advocate for relapse prevention and recovery, as well as remove the shroud of secrecy around addiction.
For Vernae, “all of the signs of relapse were there for Malcolm,” and having a better understanding of relapse prevention could have played a part in preventing his death. Having gone through the experience of researching models of addiction, working with different treatments programs, and managing the challenges of life after treatment, the Grahams are advocates for resources that raise awareness about the different approaches to treatment of addiction. The Grahams have been telling their story to help promote the Healing Addiction Summit, a free online event taking place February 3-9, and will feature recorded interviews from some of the world’s leading experts on addiction and relapse prevention. Malcolm’s journey is the lead story for this online event. “Getting all these people to talk about addiction is helpful to people like me and offers hope. Malcolm had ideas about how to improve the treatment process and ending relapse. Our mission is to carry out our son’s vision” shares Ms. Graham. Read the article the Grahams wrote shortly after Malcolm’s death.